Wits Faculty of Health Sciences

🎉 🎄 "I take the opportunity to wish all students and staff a restive and joyful holiday period. I look forward to welcoming you back in 2025" Prof Shabir Madhi - Dean Faculty of Health Sciences #happyholidays

Meet Dr. Shabir Madhi and Dr. Cathy Ndiaye, two committed public health researchers working to save lives with one powerful intervention: vaccines. Dr. Madhi is a physician and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand. His research was critical to developing the first maternal vaccine protecting infants from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)—a leading cause of infant pneumonia and bronchitis. With 97% of RSV-related infant deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries, Dr. Mahdi is now focused on ensuring more communities around the world can access this life-saving tool. Dr. Ndiaye knows firsthand the costs of cervical cancer: She lost her aunt and grandmother to the disease during her childhood. But it wasn’t until she moved to the US for her education that she learned of the stark disparities in access to effective prevention and treatment around the world. Now the Director of HPV Vaccine Programs at PATH, she’s helping expand access to HPV vaccines that can prevent cervical cancer with a single dose, and paving the way toward a world where no woman suffers from this disease. Read our recent TIME feature to learn more about Dr. Madhi and Dr. Ndiaye’s work and the incredible power of vaccines: https://bit.ly/4gCXDOj

Wits VIDA's Research Director and Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS), South Africa, Co-director, Prof Ziyaad Dangor speaks on digitizing processes to better understand causes of death. #CHAMPS #WitsVIDA #ChildHealth #ChildhoodMortality #DigitalTools

Congratulations 👏 👏 to the Chairperson of the MSC & HSSC, who not only graduated from the MBBCh today but is also a Rodes Scholarship Awardee. Well Done Wonderful Khumalo 👏 👏 we are very proud of you! Watch the interview on his journey here: https://lnkd.in/ddzY_HKa University of the Witwatersrand Wonderful Khumalo

Health and Research Management Essentials Programme In light of the concerning rise in unemployment among qualified doctors, the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of the Witwatersrand, in collaboration with Wits Health Consortium (Pty) Ltd, is offering a two-day programme in essential health and research management. This initiative aims to provide unemployed doctors with an introduction to the field of health research. Health research provides doctors with alternative career paths to contribute to local and international health improvement efforts. Register here https://lnkd.in/d_xgti6c

📖 📷: Wits Health Sciences Review: Download and read the latest edition of the HS Review. Read more: https://lnkd.in/d26hWiSs #healthreview #healthcare #Research #Grants #lancet #malaria

Wits VIDA would like to congratulate Professor Clare Cutland who has been promoted to Reader in the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences. Clare is the Scientific Coordinator of the African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE) consortium at the University of the Witwatersrand. ALIVE, selected as the university's flagship entity in 2016, focuses on developing African expertise in vaccinology training, research, and advocacy. Clare established and coordinates the MSc(Med) in Vaccinology and the African advanced vaccinology short course at Wits. Before joining ALIVE in November 2018, Clare was a research medical officer and later the deputy director of the Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit (now Wits-VIDA) at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Soweto (2000-2018). She has been an investigator on numerous paediatric and maternal vaccine trials and served as the principal investigator on several key studies, including phase II and III vaccine trials for measles, influenza, and maternal immunization in HIV-positive women. Clare has led significant grant-funded neonatal sepsis prevention and maternal immunization studies and published on the challenges and lessons learned in maternal immunization trials. Since April 2020, she has been the national coordinator for the Oxford-AZ COVID-19 vaccine trial in South Africa and a sub-investigator on other COVID-19 vaccine trials. She has contributed to the GAIA Brighton collaboration and has been a member of its scientific board since 2018. Clare also serves on the Wits Institutional Biosafety Committee and the working group for maternal COVID-19 vaccines and has co-authored over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles. Congratulations, Prof Cutland! Shabir Madhi Ziyaad Dangor

Press Release: Ahead of #WorldAIDSDay, Wits RHI is proud to announce its role as a recipient of Unitaid's groundbreaking US$22 million investment to expand access to lenacapavir, a revolutionary long-acting HIV prevention option. For more information, read the full press release: https://lnkd.in/eW82rM6V #HIVPrevention #Lenacapavir #PrEP #WitsRHI30 #WitsForGood

🚨LIVE NOW🚨| Join us for the official launch of The Wits MIND Institute, Africa's cutting-edge hub for interdisciplinary Al research! Discover how we are pushing the boundaries of machine, human, and animal intelligence. Watch Here: https://lnkd.in/eJhfQ9YC #WitsMINDInstitute #WitsAl #WitsForGood #ResearchForGood #InnovationForGood

The Wits Anglo American Digital Dome will serve as a visualisation theatre, laboratory, teaching venue, and collaborative research space for various scientific disciplines. It will also host a variety of public shows that may include anything from scientific documentaries to 360 degree animated shows to entertain adults and children. 🌌🚀 🚨The Digital Dome is expected to open to the public in February 2025. Visit the Digital Dome website: https://lnkd.in/dU3W8_3q #WitsForGood #DigitalDome #InnovationForGood